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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. degree — an amount
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. pound — a weight
  6. squash — the sport
  7. clip — to cut
  8. bore — to drill
  9. bore — gave birth
  10. object — an aim
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. clip — a video
  13. spring — a coil
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. clip — for paper
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. object — a thing
  18. degree — from a university
  19. squash — to crush
  20. degree — temperature
  21. bore — to tire
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. spring — the season
  24. spring — of water

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com